SURGICAL TREATMENT OF COLICS 77 



soon made when stomach cathetrization fails to afford 

 reHef, and then there is always the rectal exploration 

 upon which we can depend to make an accurate diag- 

 nosis of the exact seat of the obstruction in almost all 

 instances. 



The disorders of the large bowels in which surgery 

 plays an important role are : 



Acute Intestinal Indigestion 



This is sometimes, although by no means always, as- 

 sociated with acute indigestion in the stomach. This con- 

 dition is the flatulent colic of the old school veterinarians. 



Symptoms. — The bowels are overwhelmed with 

 food or with tainted food. The formation of gases from 

 fermentation is sometimes so rapid as to cause death 

 in short order if relief is not promptly given and often 

 the damage done to the intestinal walls by the stretching 

 produces a condition in the colon analogous to the dila- 

 tion of the stomach previously described. 



The exhausted muscularis, being unable to contract, 

 fails to move the accumulated mass. Very often, I re- 

 gret to say, this state of exhaustion is aggravated, if 

 not actually caused, by the administration of eserine or 

 arecoline. These drugs tax the muscularis severely, by 

 causing futile contraction against the solid contents, 

 and thus leave the bowel helpless, vapid, paralyzed at 

 a crucial period of the disease when even a little peris- 

 talsis would be mighty valuable. 



Treatment. — The simple operation of intestinal 

 puncture, enterocentesis, as we have been prone to call 

 it, is the cherished bit of colic surgery that must be de- 

 pended upon as the curative expedient. It is strictly a 



